New frontiers in animal nutrition award

Gary Hartnell, Ph.D., the leading animal nutritionist for evaluating biotech crops at the Monsanto Company in St. Louis, Mo., has been recognized for his professional achievements by the Federation of Animal Science Societies.

The FASS New Frontiers in Animal Nutrition award, which is similar to a life-time achievement award, was presented to Hartnell during a recent conference of animal-science societies in Denver, Colo. A committee of FASS members selected Hartnell to receive the award.

This is the 7th consecutive year the American Feed Industry Association sponsored the FASS award. The honor was presented to Hartnell by Randy Walker on behalf of AFIA. Walker is president of DPI Global of Porterville, Calif., and he is the chair of AFIA’s Nutrition Committee.

The purpose of the New Frontiers in Animal Nutrition award is to stimulate, acknowledge, and reward pioneering and innovative research relevant to the nutrition of animals that benefits mankind and the nutritional value of foods from animals. Among the qualities the award recipient must exhibit is an outstanding and innovative contribution to nutrition research concerning animals that benefits mankind and/or the nutritional value of food from animals.

Hartnell’s collaborative studies, efforts to improve study design, and outreach to scientific, industry, farm, and consumer groups have contributed to the success of the technology. He has conducted studies in more than 18 countries, and he co-chaired the International Life Sciences Institute Task Force that developed best practices to comprehensively evaluate biotech feeds. His contributions in this area include more than 30 peer-reviewed publications and presentations.

Born in Wisconsin and raised on a general livestock farm, Hartnell received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin-Parkside in 1973. He earned his master’s and doctoral degrees in dairy science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1975 and 1977, respectively. From 1977-1983, he managed the dairy and beef research programs at Wayne’s Feed Division of the Continental Grain Company. He has been with Monsanto since 1983.